41 Comments

Medicine in general is one of the most corrupt and wasteful industries in America and this type of fraud has been happening for many years. It's so common that it's standard practice anymore for doctors to order unnecessary expensive equipment, medications and services for their patients. They get kickbacks for doing so. Even though this video portrays the dark side, the truth is, there's an unspoken agreement between gov't and industry that ' hey, you can do this and make more money"...in other words, be an opportunist and capitalize on this system and everyone will be happy. Let's not forget that many folks are able to claim disability thanks to this same corrupt system that orders equip and services and medications for people who really aren't disabled or in need. This system works for those at the top by making them rich while also keeping some patients at poverty level on disability. I boil with anger to think about all the people in this country who really do need medical care who cannot afford it or their insurance denied coverage and yet, this type of fraud is tolerated in an effort to make everyone on top, wealthy.
Obamacare will be no different and is going to make every single one of our lives much more difficult because the insurance companies have been aggressively increasing premiums since 2009 and now they are slashing coverage which means that each of us will be forced to pay much more for much less. Obama refers to this as ' affordable'???? For who? Corruption and disease will increase and more Americans will be thrust into deeper poverty.
I heard an advertisement the other day for lung cancer screening. While this may sound like a good idea to many, you can bet that this is yet another ploy to get people diagnosed prior to the final installment of 'affordable care' and that those same folks will be penalized in some way. In fact, some insurance companies won't even cover life-saving lung cancer treatments anymore. Woman care is also being slashed and burned. None of us should pay one penny in taxes while this type of behavior continues.

Obama is a Corporate Enabler because our entire Executive, Legislature and Judiciary have ALL been Corporate Captured and Controlled! Just when are we going to wake up and smell the coffee - which got cold, as its so old! Never Give Up Exposing Our Sham Democracy! Keep Occupying The Real Issues!

Yes indeed Obama is a corporate enabler and like other dysfunctional enablers, he is not completely sincere- always telling us half-truths aka lies and advocating for legislation that serves corporate America and not American citizens. Such a disappointment.

'A Modern Economy has Universal Health' - http://www.nationofchange.org/modern-economy-has-universal-health-care-1339592731 - and thanks for your comment. Obama is such a disappointment because of course after baby-Bush we were despondent and desperate. That we are disappointed now is no surprise given how our corporate controlled politics functions or rather 'dysfunctions'. We persevere because, what is the option, right? Never Give Up! Keep Occupying The Issues! Healthcare for all now!

I may have been desperate for better leadership after Shrub but I wasn't expecting Obama to be a miracle worker. I'm a realist. What I did expect was for Obama to remain aligned with his own promises to end corporate money in politics. He said many many times that in order for America to succeed, we must put an end to lobbying. I sent a lot of money to him during his first campaign only because he said that he was going to refuse to accept money from lobbyists and special interests. He lied and lied and lied again and frankly, anything that Obama does is driven by big money from pharma companies, insurance companies, banks and oil. He's no different than Shrub except that he's more intelligent and his rhetoric is more sophisticated and civilized. When Obama talks about healthy organic foods for Americans he's really saying that he wants to support Monsanto's interests in making more profitable GMO foods while driving out small organic farmers. When Obama tells us that he wants credit reform to end abusive fees and other charges, he gives the credit companies 2 years to raise rates, impose fees, etc... until they are required to stop. When he says that he wants affordable care for ALL Americans, he is saying that he wants to use our money to protect, guarantee and spread the profits more evenly among insurance, drug companies and health management companies as well as giving them several years in the interim to raise rates 300 percent and reduce coverage. Obama makes Shrub look like an angel. At least Shrub was a transparent evil bully even if most Americans were too dumb to see through his game.
Here's the thing.....I'm very concerned that we've reached a point in our country and it's global economic relations that we cannot recover. It's a very complex problem that involves trade agreements, immigration, outsourcing, education, etc... We have truly been so blinded by the spoils of greed that I'm not sure people would even know how to behave if left to their own devices. Contrary to the belief that we all have ' free will' in this life, I beg everyone to examine in depth just how much of what any of us do is actually self-governed and orchestrated with our own mind.
I recently applied for a job in England and you would not believe the benefits, pay and annual paid vacation AND paid sick leave ( 20 days of paid sick leave per year) and guess what? This is for a gardener job with housing provided on an estate.. Yes, I desperately want that job. I realized that so many Americans have been conditioned to believe that the reason they are struggling is because they don't work hard enough, long enough and that they are depressed and full of anxiety because they are struggling to make ends meet. This is simply not true. Deep at our core, we know that something is wrong. We are tired, we are lonely, we are hungry for meaningful lives. We don't value personal relationships or families like other countries do and we put more value on materialism and spending our money on creating a superficial image rather than nurturing human relationships. None of my friends in Australia or the UK would ever immigrate here and they are always trying to help me emigrate but unfortunately, it's not easy to do anymore since so many Americans left after the 2nd Shrub win. I remember when I first learned about how few hours most of my friends worked and I would get angry at them thinking that they were just spoiled weaklings. How truly wrong of me to think that. But, I realized that it's my own conditioning to think that way and it's so so wrong.

When you say - 'anything that Obama does is driven by big money from pharma companies, insurance companies, banks and oil. He's no different than Shrub except that he's more intelligent and his rhetoric is more sophisticated and civilized.' - I have to repeat your words, because they cut so deep and are so true from my perspective too.

Your comment is really very strong and moving because of the deep truths you speak and I Strongly Urge any readers to reflect on what you have written here. Our MSM programming would have us think that the US is best at everything - but you only have to live here and look around to see and know that something is very wrong. Thank you so much for your comment and I sincerely wish you all the very best of luck in your plans. If you do go then sadly it would be the US' loss as much as it would be the UK's gain. Solidarity to you G. Never Give Up! Keep Occupying Your Heart & Soul Wherever You Are!

Thanks A. I'll never turn my back on what is right- no matter where I am. I've been an activist for the UK as well at times. The world is my home but it sure would be nice to live in a country that understands the value of good health, security and family.
Here's a really good website for you to keep up with re: healthcare http://www.anh-usa.org/ I've done a lot of work with this organization and it's truly one of the most noble group of activists that I've ever known.

I have bookmarked your excellent link and thank you very much for that as it is in accord with my own personal interests. Also, I now also see why your eye was drawn to the Dr.Oz piece the other day. In return, I do hope you'll have a few minutes for - http://www.nationofchange.org/understanding-fiscal-cliff-2-minutes-and-30-seconds-1354635555 - a very interesting short piece and video. Thank you for your gracious comments and I totally get why beautifulworld calls you 'heart-centred' now :) Solidarity in all your efforts in whatever you do and wherever you do it. Never Give Up On The 99%! Solidarity to you G.

Yes, yes, I'm a health freedom activist and have been for a long time. I worked in the medical industry for a number of years as well so I'm very passionate about human and environmental health. After all, if we are not healthy, how can we be happy and successful?

My reaction to Oz was really about how yet another honest, caring person has been made into a corrupt corporate slave. He has truly abandoned the philosophies that made him so well-respected to begin with!

BW said I was heart centered? That's sweet but tell her that I'm just a grumpy old bitty now...hahahahha

I hadn't read the article - http://www.anh-usa.org/nonprofit-medicine-is-government-about-to-throw-it-under-the-bus/ - but I promise to do so as it seems very interesting indeed, although it is quite long and take time to read. I agree with what you say and 'Health Is Wealth' as my Dad used to say! BW was right and you are just fine as you are :) I have work and chores to get on with now and have been on and off here for most of the morning and even just ate my lunch right now with the laptop on, lol. Solidarity to you and it was very nice exchanging information and insights with you. You are an inspiration and a joy.

A single payer system would work much better than anything proposed by ACA. We've got to stop this before it happens. I heard something interesting on the news about how Liberty University in Lynchburg, VA is challenging ACA, suggesting that it violates religious freedom. Although the university spokesman's justification didn't make any sense to me, it did make me realize that there are people in this country whose religion discourages professional medical care ( the uni spokesman never mentioned this)..I believe the Amish for example?? Can we force someone to pay for something that they would never use?

could you explain what you mean by ' includes flexibility through waivers'? Do you mean that we can exempt ourselves from the ACA without penalty? I doubt that but maybe I'm wrong? Many employers are already telling their employees that they MUST enroll in their group plans next Nov. or they may just lose their job. Why would that be? Could it be that if companies have employees that are not enrolled in a plan that they are penalized? After all, how would the government be able to monitor how much someone is paying, when to impose fines, etc..? The gov't is definitely doing something to ensure that anyone with a job is forced to pay. This certainly doesn't motivate me to get a job because I don't want to pay any amount into the current healthcare system. That's like forcing me to buy unhealthy toxic foods that I won't eat and then leaving me with not enough money to buy healthy foods. .

Your talking about a state deciding for me and so what's the difference? Whether it's state or federal, I don't want someone forcing me to pay outrageous premiums in a dysfunctional healthcare system. However, if it were a single payer system, we would all pay a very nominal fee like state income tax and I would have no problem with that since it's a not for profit that would help others in grave need.
I'm not a sucker for BS but when a corporation is already firing many of it's employees to reduce their insurance expense, you can bet they will fire others who are not participating IF they are being penalized. If you don't believe me, just wait. The insurance companies are already attempting to eliminate an entire group of people from entering their programs before 2014 by ' screening'. They are working this to their advantage in a HUGE way and we can all thank Obama for that since he gave them plenty of time to do it.

Then I suggest you quit spending your time on here and go to Washington with your passe of protesters, hold a congressional hearing and command change. Nothing written on here is gong to influence the large masses of gerbils to get off the wheel. I've already done my time in Washington, it's your turn.

From what I know, the states are already aware of this option. I would not want my state ( VA) to agree to the waiver for one reason...the state is already creaming most of us in terms of taxes and I mean creaming. It's absolutely horrible and businesses are failing. If VA agreed to such, they would make it almost impossible for anyone in the middle class or below to survive. VA resembles a slice of the entire country. We have the super elite wealthy that live in the north near Washington and then we have a severely depressed pocket in the southwest and then we have military in the east ( and north). The difference between north and south is like night and day and yet, those up north seem to be the decision makers and the military gets tons of wasted money.

I thought that VT had already implemented a single-payer system..did they overturn it?
I'm not dengrating you at all and sorry if you interpreted my comment that way. ...when I say go to Washington, I mean it but in your case, go to the State legislature or hold a meeting with your local rep and video tape it. I've been doing this shit for a long time and I can tell you that unless you can gather up a party of activists and hold a meeting, letters and emails, tweets and other stuff really doesn't have nearly the same effect- especially today when so much of what we need and want is ignored by the media and our legislature unless it's documented and posted online by us.

Thanks for the advice. I'm actually good in terms of the activism I take part in. & although I am here often, I assure you I am well aware that street action is the most important effort we make. I am there just fine.

I am deeply involved in street action. In regards to letters,emails, petitions, tweets, social media and other stuff, I would say they are valuable, irreplaceable elements to any successful movement.

No need to get violent but when our legislators are forced to put us on their schedule of events, they tend to listen unless they want to be duck-taped to their chair ( I keep a roll in my purse at all times) hahahah
I love posting on here but I also know that I'm posting to the choir whereas, having a meeting with my local rep provides a sense of accomplishment.
Time is running out. Maybe falling off the fiscal cliff is exactly what we need to restore balance. ( doubt that's going to happen though)